once more the candle flickers
and dies
no gust of wind to fan the flame
and I stand riveted
Prometheus to a rock
the flesh slowly peeled
by carnivorous talons
hungry for new-blood's breath
chains without keys

rattle

in defiant rage
scorching the night
reverberating
thunder
to awaken the gods
hammering the gates with fired-lead fury
but there is no response
from Olympian heights
as the final dying echo

falls like a raindrop
in a puddle of silence.


(Previously published in Some Words: A Place For Poetry, Nov - Dec 1999)

Laurence Overmire

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/riveted/